Information related to the cost of electricity is of great significance to both suppliers and consumers of electricity. The cost of electric power sold to a large consumer, such as a manufacturing facility or hotel chain, is often determined by a two part formula. The first part of the energy bill is determined by the measured amount of electricity consumed over a billing period. The second portion of the total electric bill is based on the peak demand required by the customer during the billing period. Oftentimes, the portion of the electric bill based upon the peak demand exceeds the portion of the bill based on actual usage. In some industries, the cost of electricity can account for more than 15% of the operating costs for the business owner. Therefore, if the facility management personnel can monitor the energy consumption and reduce the peak demand, the energy costs for the facility can be greatly decreased.
In recent years, a move has been made to deregulate the electric power industry, which would allow electric customers to purchase electric power from the cheapest source, regardless of where the source is located. Therefore, a large consumer having multiple locations in different parts of the country could purchase their entire electric power supply from a single producer.
If the electric power for multiple facilities is purchased from a single producer and aggregated into a single lump sum, an abnormal peak demand from one the facilities is absorbed into the combined aggregate. Thus, the demand-based portion of the electric bill is less than if each of the facilities were billed individually.
Problems exist, however, when multiple buildings are combined into a single aggregate sum. In most facilities, facility management personnel monitor the energy usage and can detect any abnormal variations in usage. However, if multiple buildings are combined, the facility management personnel is oftentimes unable to monitor all of the facilities in a timely manner from a central location. Thus, if one of the remote facilities is experiencing abnormally high power consumption, the facility management personnel may not detect the abnormality until it is too late to take preventative action.
Therefore, a need exist for an energy information and control system that allows the facility management personnel to monitor multiple remote facilities in a timely manner from a central location. Likewise, a need also exists for a utility provider to have accurate and real-time information across multiple consumers.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an energy information and control system that can receive power related information, on either a real-time or historic basis, from a plurality of locations and allow the user to access the information from a remote location. It is another object of the invention to provide an energy information and control system that utilizes currently available computer networks to link remotely located facilities to a single primary server. It is another object of the invention to provide an energy management system that combines the energy information from a plurality of locations into a single aggregate sum that can be accessed by the consumer or utility real-time or on a historic basis.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an energy information and control system that can be connected to operate and monitor a remote energy generator. It is still a further object of the invention to provide an energy information and control system that can calculate current energy consumption costs and activate the remote energy generator when the cost of operating the remote generator is less than the cost of the energy received from the utility. Still further, it is an object of the invention to provide a system that can both push and pull real-time energy information across a computer network from individual energy meters.
The present invention is an energy information and control system for monitoring and analyzing the power consumption at a plurality of separate locations. The energy information and control system of the invention is centered around a computer network that allows various devices to communicate with each other. The energy information and control system includes a primary server connected to the computer network. The primary server communicates across the computer network to a plurality of devices that monitor energy consumption within a building and are capable of communication across the computer network. Typically, a building server is used to provide a gateway to the computer network for devices that cannot communicate across the network. The building server is connected to at least one energy meter that measures the amount of energy being used by at least a portion of a building. The building server acts as a gateway to permit the individual energy meter to send information across the computer network.
Alternatively, the energy information and control system of the invention can include individual energy monitoring devices that can be connected directly to the wide area computer network. Each of these individual devices include communication components that allow the device to communicate directly across the computer network without utilizing the building server to act as a gateway.
In addition to the energy monitoring devices, a remote power generator can also be connected to the computer network. The remote power generator includes components that permit the generator to communicate across the network. When the energy information and control system is operating, the primary server calculates the current cost of the energy being consumed and compares the cost to the cost of operating the remote power generator. If the cost of operating the remote generator is less than the cost of the energy being purchased from the utility, the primary server can either generate a signal or directly activate the generator over the network. Alternatively, a utility provider could be given access to the customer-owned generators and activate numerous generators when the demand for energy reaches the maximum the utility can provide.
At least one monitoring station is coupled to the computer network to access the information stored in the primary server. The monitoring station can be located at a separate location from both the primary server and the plurality of building servers.
During operation of the energy information and control system, the primary server sends a signal across the computer network triggering an individual building server, or other device capable of transmitting information directly across the network, to transmit energy usage information across the network to the primary server. Additionally, the devices connected to the network can be configured to xe2x80x9cpushxe2x80x9d information across the network at selected intervals. Upon receiving the energy usage information, the primary server translates the energy usage information into a form that can be stored within the power database. The primary server requests information from each building server at predetermined time intervals such that the primary server maintains a historic power database and provides access to real-time information.
The primary server includes server software that allows a monitoring station to access the power database and view the contents of the power database in a conventional manner. Thus, the monitoring stations can access the data stored in the power database across the computer network.
The primary server can aggregate the energy usage information received from a plurality of distinct locations and energy meters. By aggregating the energy usage information from multiple locations, the primary server can provide energy consumption statistics for multiple locations located relatively large distances apart.